Humanitarian crisis in Nigeria: a country that is unknown, feared and left behind

This article, which was published on the AFD Ideas-4-Development blog, offers an interesting analysis of the humanitarian crisis in north-eastern Nigeria which has passed largely unnoticed. Home to 177 million people - half of them Muslims - Africa’s most populous country is often feared even though it is also unknown on the international stage. “A large share of the population strongly distrusts the military and political elites in Nigeria. As a consequence, Boko Haram has a real base of support, which contributes to maintaining a certain degree of anarchy in the Lake Chad area,” explains anthropologist Maud Gauquelin.